Ben’s Story

I recently spoke with a junior UX designer, Ben, who’s struggled with shifting his career to UX design.

Ben’s had two jobs as a junior UX designer. At both jobs, he was the first UX designer the organization had ever hired. Ben told me about the politics at his first UX job:

The company didn’t apply much UX work to their process. They didn’t do usability testing. I thought maybe they just didn’t know what usability testing was. I thought I just had to explain it. But that wasn’t the case. The CTO received a bonus for how much software he shipped every quarter. He wanted to get his five things out the door every few months. If I delayed him, even to ship better products, it hurt his bonus.

At his most recent UX job, Ben encountered more political challenges:

The company hired me without really understanding what UX design was. The team saw the appeal of design but didn’t know why they needed it. Once I started the job, I realized my boss saw design as a visual black box—something goes in, and out comes nice stuff. The only designs I got sign-off for were beautiful, visual designs. I wanted to create things that were useful to the customer, but I couldn’t because the team didn’t see value in it.

I commend Ben for the hard work he did at both jobs. He broke into the UX field and held two jobs with “UX” in the title. (Transitioning into the UX field is difficult to do.) Ben also managed to ship some UX work to both organizations’ customers, despite the politics he faced.

However, after working two UX jobs, Ben didn’t get as much UX experience as he could have. He had limited opportunities to practice the craft of UX design at either organization.

Wendy’s Story

Like Ben, Wendy started her first UX job about a year and a half ago. Unlike Ben, Wendy’s kept the same job, and she’s getting the UX experience she needs and wants. Wendy recently told me, “I’ve learned so much in this role during the first year alone. My UX knowledge has come such a long way.”

Wendy joined an organization with an established UX team. Her team includes four senior designers, two mid-level designers, and Wendy, a junior designer. She learns from these designers every day.

Wendy accompanies the senior designers on her team for working sessions. During these sessions, Wendy listens, watches, contributes, and learns. She absorbs the knowledge of her senior team members.

Wendy documents the decisions the team makes. She creates prototypes, sketches, and other artifacts. Senior designers give Wendy feedback on the artifacts she creates. Wendy uses that feedback to iterate through designs.

Like Ben’s organization, Wendy’s organization has plenty of politics. The difference is, the senior designers on Wendy’s team address the politics so she doesn’t have to.

Senior designers usually have experience with moving UX work through an organization. They often know how to involve managers, executives, and other stakeholders in the design process so the team can ship more UX work to customers.

Wendy gets to focus her energy on practicing the craft of UX design, instead of trying to navigate politics and practice the craft of UX design.

The Benefits of Joining an Established UX Team

Ben and Wendy are both learning about UX design on the job. Wendy is learning a lot more, at a much faster rate. Working on a large, established UX team helps her gain experience on a regular basis.

If you’re looking for your first UX job, I highly recommend joining an organization with an established UX team. Here’s why:

Organizations With Established UX Teams Have a UX Process

If an organization has a dedicated team of UX designers, even if it’s a small team, the organization is invested in UX at some level. It’s usually easier to accomplish UX work at an organization if UX is already part of the organization’s process.

Many businesses don’t follow a UX process. They don’t see it as important. Working for companies with no process will make life tough. I did this for a UX contract when I started, and it was no fun.

Guy goes on to say, “Work for a business with a UX process—you’ll learn so much more.” I agree.

Senior Designers Can Mentor You

Years ago, when I was a junior designer, I joined an agency with a team of eight UX designers. Five of them were senior designers.

At that job, I regularly asked the senior designers for input on my work. Their feedback was invaluable. I learned what was effective and what wasn’t. I learned when to use certain UX tools and when not to use them. I soaked up the senior team members’ knowledge like a sponge.

I worked with that UX team for nearly three years. In that timespan, I built a foundation of skills in UX design. Then, I moved onto my next job as a senior UX designer.

Senior Designers Can Address Politics

Wendy could practice the craft of UX design because the senior members of her team addressed the politics around her job. Ben couldn’t practice UX design because organizational politics got in the way.

To be clear, politics exist in almost every organization. Most UX designers struggle with organizational politics, even if they are senior designers, and even if they have experience with navigating these politics.

If you’re a junior UX team of one, you’ll have to learn to address politics, and you’ll have to learn the craft of UX design at the same time. It’s harder to gain valuable UX experience if you’re in that situation.

It’s Okay to be a Junior UX Team of One

What if the only job offer you get is for a junior UX team of one?

You’ll probably see many UX job openings at organizations don’t have a UX team, yet. This is because more organizations now recognize the benefits of UX design. They’re hiring UX designers for the first time.

It’s okay to accept a position at one of these organizations, especially if it’s the only job offer you have. If you’re dedicated to changing your career to UX design, I recommend you take the job offer. Some UX experience is usually better than no UX experience.

Make Your First UX Job a Great Job

When I spoke with Wendy recently, she told me about her career transition to UX design:

I did a ton of research about the UX field before changing my career. I learned I did not want to be UX team of one. Learning from seasoned people is what I really wanted.

Wendy got what she wanted, and she’s doing great.

The best job you can get as a UX designer is a job where you can learn UX and grow your career. If you’re looking for your first UX job, look for a job with an established UX team and a UX process. Make sure the UX team includes one or more experienced, senior UX designers. You’ll learn more with an established UX team than you’ll learn as a junior UX team of one.

At Center Centre, our students get to choose their own learning adventures. We don’t require students to learn from one specific resource like a book or an online tutorial. Instead, they choose resources and experiences that meet their learning styles and learning needs.

As we’ve developed the User Research Practices course, we’ve found a lot of resources to help our students learn the basics of usability testing. Below are some of our favorites. If you’d like to learn more about usability testing, use these resources to develop your own learning adventure.

Books

Steve Krug’s Rocket Surgery Made Easy is a fast and easy read. It demystifies usability testing. It explains how to run usability tests at your organization, even if you have a small budget or are short on time. After you read this book, you’ll know how to get started with usability testing.

For a deeper dive into usability testing, read the Handbook of Usability Testing by Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell. This book walks you through each step of the usability testing process, from planning a test to analyzing the results, then sharing the results with your team. Because this book dives deeply into the process of usability testing, I suggest reading a few of the articles below, watching one of the videos below, or reading Rocket Surgery Made Easy before you read this book.

Just Enough Research by Erika Hall explains why we need to conduct user research (usability testing is a form of user research). Read Erika’s book if you want an introduction to user research that explores usability testing, user interviews, field visits, and surveys.

Videos

Erika Hall’s Just Enough Research video presentation explains why we conduct user research. Her presentation covers many of the concepts in her book, listed above. Use this video as an alternative to reading the book.

Steve Krug’s Rocket Surgery Made Easy video demo supplements Steve’s book by the same name, listed above. In the video, he walks you through a real usability test. He even suggests what to take notes on before the video begins. At the end of the video, he prompts you to evaluate the findings in your notes.

The All You Can Learn (AYCL) seminar, Effectively Moderating Usability Tests, explains things like how to interact with participants, how to make participants feel comfortable, and how to get accurate data from participants. To watch this seminar, you’ll need a monthly subscription to the AYCL library, or you can purchase this specific seminar.

Articles

“Usability Testing Demystified” by Dana Chisnell walks you through the process of conducting a usability study. Dana also explains how to involve your team in the usability study. If you’re brand new to usability testing, start with this article.

“Testing Content” by Angela Colter explains how to usability test your content. It’s usually not enough to make sure that our users can find the content they need. Usability tests also need tell us if users understand the content in our designs.

My friend Bryan recently asked me for career advice. He’s a full-time user experience (UX) designer who works for a large, well-funded startup.

Bryan said he sometimes struggles at work because he doesn’t have front-end development skills. He experiences challenges like these:

Because he doesn’t know how to code, Bryan doesn’t always use the same language that developers use when discussing design.

Bryan can’t make simple code changes to a website. He has to ask a developer to make those changes. If Bryan knew basic HTML and CSS, he could make changes by himself in minutes.

If he needs to create a prototype (a functional draft of a design), Bryan can’t build one in the browser using hand-coded HTML and CSS. Even if a hand-coded prototype is the best approach for the project, he has to rely on prototyping tools instead.

Although Bryan experiences these challenges, he’s a talented and successful UX designer. He has about 20 years of experience building websites, mobile apps, and other software. He’s worked for multiple organizations in different cities across the United States. He has no trouble getting hired as a UX designer.

You don’t need to learn front-end development to be a successful UX designer like Bryan. But after speaking with Bryan, I realized how many advantages I have as a UX designer who knows how to code.

What is Front-End Development?

The basics of front-end web development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. This code controls what a user sees and interacts with on a website.

The definition of front-end development varies depending upon who you talk to. Front-end development includes more than HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It includes things like preprocessors, frameworks, and libraries. Two people can have the title front-end developer while doing very different things at their jobs.

Throughout this article, when I say front-end development, I mean coding by hand with HTML and CSS. If you’re a UX designer, I believe you can benefit by learning HTML and CSS.

The Advantages I Have as a UX Designer Who Codes

After speaking with my friend Bryan, I realized how often I use my front-end development skills as a UX designer.

I Can Code Basic Things on My Own

I can write basic HTML and CSS on my own without requiring much help from other people. I can create a functional prototype for the browser. I can make simple edits to a website. I can debug most HTML and CSS issues on the website you’re reading right now.

I don’t use my coding skills every day. But when I need those coding skills, they make my life much easier.

I Can Communicate with My Team

Because I know how to code, I can communicate about front-end development with my colleagues at Center Centre. When we discuss code at Center Centre, I can contribute to the conversation. After the conversation, I understand what we discussed and what changes, if any, we’ll make to our website.

If I find a bug on Center Centre’s website, I have a general idea of what’s wrong. I can ask my team thoughtful questions like these:

“Does our CMS support audio uploads to our blog? Do we have the proper HTML tags and CSS styles in place, or do we need to add to the code that’s there?”

“This photo isn’t lining up properly with the text. Is there a CSS issue on this section of the site?”

“This link isn’t revealing more content like it’s supposed to. Is there an issue with the JavaScript?”

When you learn to code, you gain a shared language when speaking about code. On a broader level, when you learn to code, you understand what the web is capable of. You can determine if your design ideas are feasible or not feasible.

I’m Equipped to Learn Programming Languages

In 2005, I took a Java course to learn about back-end development. I did well in the course, partly because I already understood HTML and CSS. My front-end development skills gave me a foundation for learning back-end development skills.

At some point in your career, you may want to learn to program, or you may need to learn to program. Maybe you’ll want to learn how to code native apps like iOS apps or Android apps. Or perhaps you’ll need to code with a back-end development language like Python or Ruby.

Most UX designers don’t need to use programming languages, though some UX designers may need to learn JavaScript to prototype. If you do need to learn programming, a foundation in front-end development will give you a significant advantage.

Learning to Code Takes Time, and it’s Worthwhile

To remember the coding skills you learn, you’ll probably need to spend a significant amount of time coding. I remember a lot about HTML and CSS because I coded for about five years early on in my career. (I began my career as a front-end developer before becoming a full-time UX designer.)

You don’t have to spend five years coding HTML and CSS like I did. But it’s best if you can spend enough time coding so that you retain what you learn.

Do You Have to Learn How to Code?

Some people argue that UX designers don’t need to code. Try Googling the phrase, “Should UX designers learn to code?” You’ll see many strong opinions on this topic.

You don’t need to code to be a successful UX designer. My friend Bryan, the UX designer I mentioned earlier, doesn’t know how to code. He’s had a fantastic career. But he experiences challenges on the job because he doesn’t have front-end development skills.

I firmly believe that UX designers benefit from learning front-end development. If you learn to code, you’ll probably have the same advantages that I’ve had throughout my career. And you’ll probably avoid the challenges that my friend Bryan faces today.

Go Forth and Code

I hope I’ve convinced you to learn HTML and CSS by now. The knowledge you gain will get you out of the theoretical and into the practice. You’ll experience, for yourself, how the web works. You’ll learn how to communicate with other members of your design team.

Designers don’t need to learn to code. However, designers that learn to code will be the ones leading us to better user experiences.

If you know how to write HTML and CSS, and if you know UX design, that’s a powerful combination. When you add other skills like front-end development to your UX design skills, that combination is usually better than UX skills alone.

Affordable Sources You Can Purchase

You can purchase a Treehouse membership to take their Introduction to HTML and CSS course. Or you can purchase a Lynda.com membership to take their HTML and CSS courses. Treehouse and Lynda.com both offer free trials for their services.

There are other ways to learn front-end development. You can purchase books, take in-person classes, and read articles and blogs. If you use other sources to learn front-end development, make sure those sources are up-to-date and reputable.

More On the Benefits of Learning How to Code

UIE published these thoughtful resources on learning to code as a UX designer. Each source explains why learning to code helps you become more effective at UX design.

Why I Created this List

I created this list of UX resources for beginners like you. If you’re new to UX design, you may struggle with how to start learning about it. You might be thinking, “How do I learn the basics? Is there a book I should read? Is there a blog I should follow?”

Googling about UX design returns many, many results. It’s hard to sift through all of it. It’s difficult to tell the quality content apart from the weak content. And very few of the resources you’ll find are created for beginners or junior designers.

As a faculty member at Center Centre, the UX design school, I get many questions about becoming a UX designer. I’ve reviewed all the resources in this list, and I believe they represent UX design with accuracy and clarity.

How to Use this List

I recommend starting with three to five of these resources to learn about UX design. If you get through five of the resources and you’re excited to learn more, feel free to review the rest. You’ll learn something different with each resource.

UX Resources

Articles

The $300 Million Dollar Button
A large e-commerce organization earned an additional $300 million in annual purchases after removing the registration requirement from its site.

Hats (PDF)
Richard Saul Wurman wrote Hats in 1989. It’s a curious read about making information understandable. Even though the article is over 25 years old, it’s still relevant today. This article is available in PDF format only.

Grow your career without leaving your company
Lis Pardi blazed her own trail to become a UX designer/information architect. She changed her career by taking on the role of UX designer at her organization. If you already work in technology or design and you want to become a UX designer, consider following Lis’ guidance.

My Advice on Becoming a UX Designer
I wrote this article for people who want to become UX designers. In the article, I explain how to get involved with the UX community, how to take on UX projects by yourself, and how to apply UX at your current job.

Podcasts

What is User Experience Design?
Paul Boag and his guests discuss the difference between user experience (UX), user interface (UI), and customer experience. I recommend starting the podcast at timestamp 23:00. The beginning of the podcast is mostly chatter.

UX Careers: An Interview with Cory Lebson(Update: September 2016)
In this UXpod interview, Cory Lebson shares his recommendations for becoming a UX designer. If you’re transitioning your career to UX design, you should find this podcast helpful.

The UX Intern Podcast
In this podcast series, a UX intern named Wesley Noble interviews UX designers. He asks them about their work, how they got into the field, and what advice they have for aspiring UX designers.

If you’re not sure which episode to start with, try the interview with Whitney Hess, Jesse James Garrett, or Luke Wroblewski.

Videos

It’s a Great Time to Be a UX Designer
Jared Spool is a highly respected leader in UX design. He’s also my boss at Center Centre. In this presentation, Jared explains UX design with real-world examples. Some of Center Centre’s applicants tell us they decided to pursue a career in UX design after watching this presentation.

What Does a UX Designer Do?
This is a brief video interview with Sarah Harrison, the head of UX design at True&Co. Sarah discusses the UX tools she uses every day and what excites her about being a UX designer.

Steve Krug’s Demo Usability Test
Steve Krug, the author of Don’t Make Me Think, demos a usability test in this video. Before the usability test begins, Steve asks you to write down your own observations from the usability test. He shares his own observations with you after the test.

Online Checkout in Real Life(Update: February 2016)
In this humorous video, a customer tries to purchase a loaf of bread at a brick-and-mortar store. While checking out, he encounters many frustrations that people have when they shop online. I often show this video to people who are new to UX design.

Go to the Gemba: Deborah Adler at TEDxRVA 2013(Update: April 2016)
In this short TEDx talk, designer and entrepreneur Deborah Adler shows you how design can solve important problems for people. My favorite example is the ClearRX packaging system. Deborah partnered with Target to develop ClearRX after she developed the ClearRX concept as a graduate student. ClearRX reinvented the patient experience for prescription medications.

Books

Don’t Make Me Think
Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think is the quintessential intro to UX book. If you haven’t read any UX books yet, I recommend that you start with this book.

The Design of Everyday Things
This book is about designing products for people. The author, Don Norman, explains why everyday objects like chairs, teapots, computers, and phones are designed the way they are. After you read this book, you’ll look differently at the design of things around you.

A Project Guide to UX Design
This book explains the steps of a UX project. Because every UX project is unique, the book reviews a range of UX tools and approaches that you can use in a project. After you finish this book, you’ll understand what a UX project can be like from start to finish.

How to Make Sense of Any Mess
Abby Covert wrote this charming book about information architecture (IA). IA is how we organize everything in a design to help our users find the specific content they’re seeking. When a design’s information is organized, easy to understand, and easy to navigate, users can find what they need. How to Make Sense of Any Mess makes complex IA principles understandable and accessible. It’s also a quick read.

Information Architecture for the Web and Beyond
UX designers call this book “The Polar Bear Book” because of its cover. Now in its fourth edition, this is one of the essential books about information architecture. If you enjoy reading How to Make Sense of Any Mess, read this book next.

Letting Go of the Words
This is a UX book about writing effective content for your audience. Users visit your site to find content or to complete a task. If your site has the wrong content, or if your content is hard to understand, your audience will struggle. Letting Go of the Words is one of my favorite UX books of all time. Read my review of the book to see why.

Get Started in UX(Update: February 2016)
This e-book will help you transition to a career in UX design. The book explains, among many other things, how to build professional relationships in the UX field and how to create a UX portfolio. The book will also help you determine if UX design is a good career move for you.

Online Courses

UX Basics
Lis Hubert is the instructor for this course on Treehouse. User experience design is a broad, nuanced field, and Lis does a great job of explaining it. If you don’t have a membership with Treehouse, sign up for the free trial to take Lis’ course.

UX Fundamentals(Update: January 2016)
This self-paced UX Fundamentals course is free of charge. As you begin the course, you’ll complete a short quiz to assess your current knowledge of UX design. Throughout the course, you’ll complete some learning assignments. The course includes an online forum where you upload and share assignments with other students. There are also quizzes at the end of each section that help you retain what you learn.

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Photo by Jessica Ivins

Over the years, I’ve become a voracious reader. I devour books on topics like productivity, business, and design. I’ve read over a dozen UX design books this year alone.

It’s Not Just Another Content Book

Before reading Letting Go of the Words, I read books like Nicely Said and Everybody Writes. Both of these books show you how to write content for the web (and they’re both fantastic reads).

I expected Letting Go of the Words to be another book about web content. But it’s much, much more than that. It’s a design book that shows you how to develop effective content and design an experience that supports that content.

What I Learned from the Book

Here are a few things from the book that resonated with me.

Focus on what you want your site visitors to do. When establishing goals for your site, frame those goals around visitors’ needs instead of your organization’s needs. This helps you keep visitors’ needs top of mind.

For example: Imagine you have an e-commerce site that sells shoes. The first goal below focuses on the site. The second goal is the same goal, but it focuses on your visitors.

No: We want to sell a lot of shoes.

Yes: We want people to buy shoes from us.

Write conversationally. Write to the reader by using words like “I,” “we,” and “you.” This helps the reader connect with your content.

Answer your site visitors’ questions. Visitors usually come to your site with questions. They might be asking, “What are your business hours?” or “Do you have the suitcase I need at the right price?” Make sure your content answers their questions.

Remember that writing isn’t about the author. It’s about the visitor. Ginny says, “Put your ego in the drawer, cheerfully.” Write for your visitors and not for yourself. Be willing to let go of your prose if it doesn’t support the needs of your audience. (I still struggle with this one, but I’m getting there!)

These are only a few examples of what I learned from the book. I marked up the book with many underlines. I dog-eared pages and bookmarked my favorite sections. I plan to use this book as a reference for years to come.

Who Else Can Benefit from This book?

I recommend Letting Go of the Words to all UX designers. I also recommend it for graphic designers, front-end developers, content strategists, and anyone else who touches the web. Even though I have about ten years of experience in UX design, I learned many things from this book.

Why is Content an Important Topic?

As a UX designer, you’ll need to know how to produce good content. People come to your site for the content. Very rarely do they visit your site for the design alone. Effective content supports your visitor’s needs and your organization’s goals. If you want to learn how to produce effective content, Letting Go of the Words is a fantastic place to start.